Char Szabo-Perricelli

About
Char Szabo-Perricelli

I combine my intimate relationship with Nature, my passion for the preservation of old architecture and my fascination with life's processes and natural reclamation into my work. Humans often see Nature as something to be controlled rather than something vital and full of life energy that we are so closely connected to. My own relationship is polar opposite. It is intertwined and personal. When I see this conflict either in a literal or allegorical form I photograph it, sometimes abstracting my images in order to tell a story as I want it to be told. It then becomes a tangible, visual representation of this ongoing conflict. I hope my work provides a reminder that Nature will always win out in the end and that a truce with it so much more enriches our lives and teaches us that we are an integral part of something infinitesimally wonderful. During an interview a few years back I was asked to describe my “style”. I made up a word on the spot which seemed to best define it - "BioStructural®". It combines soft organic natural elements with human-made stark, hard, linear ones - seemingly in conflict, but truly coexisting.

At least for now.

Char Szabo-Perricelli is a photographer, artist, author and environmentalist with a passion for architecture, history, nature and life's processes. This is immediately apparent in her extensive body of work mostly done in a style she calls “BioStructural®”, capturing the symbioses and/or conflict between nature and manmade.

She has had two photo essay books published of her preservation and historical work. The first, “JN Adam Memorial Hospital, Her inside Voice” tells the history of an abandoned tuberculosis hospital through sensitive and provocative words and images. The 2nd, “The Colony Chronicles” documents the history of the old Craig Colony for Epileptics now owned by New York State which runs a prison there. She is the only photographer ever allowed inside to photograph it.

Char is a passionate advocate for preservation through photography when other means have failed to bring attention to at risk buildings. Her images as well as her essays have been published in books, print magazines and online in several professional venues. In many cases her photos are all that remain of some of the historically and architecturally relevant places she’s documented. She often donates them to raise awareness on the importance of preservation, restoration and reuse of these significant structures we are so fortunate to have in our region.

Her unique and sometimes in your face style captures moments in time, ambiguities, mysteries and the beauty of things left behind, hidden, decayed and forgotten.

Walking in the woods, fields, or along roadsides and in old crumbling places on her way to somewhere else is where she finds her subjects, raw materials and inspiration. She also creates wall art out of what humans throw away or what nature leaves lying around in series she calls eARThobjects®.

Residing in the woods with her musician/composer husband, Marco and their big rescue dogs and black cat, she brings her final ideas together in her “playhouse”. Her work reflects her intimate connection with the natural world and draws the viewer in to join her on her journeys along paths less taken.

She can be reached at 13 Tigers Design Studio, 8920 Rt. 219, Ashford Hollow NY 14171. Email: thirteen_tigers@yahoo.com or through her website: https://char-szabo-perricelli.pixels.com


Portfolio

  • A Relic Protecting The Ruins
  • After The Flood
  • Ambiguous Postcard I
  • Ambiguous Postcard III
  • Anteus Profile
  • Balance of Thought
  • Between Dreams - A Dali-esque dreamscape
  • Cognitive Energy
  • Components of the System
  • Confessions of a Distant Corner
  • Conflict and Coexistence
  • Cultural Artifact
  • Curiously Chrysoprase
  • Daguenet
  • Deep in a Trancescape
  • Determined Simplicity
  • Dog in the Manger
  • Draconian Eclipse
  • Empathetic Connection
  • Exemplifies the Remarkable Breadth
  • Floraform
  • Food Chain Disruption
  • Fundamentally Elemental
  • Glass Rant
  • Honesty X
  • Imitating the Sun
  • Increasingly Sophisticated
  • Love the Earth - Celebrating Earth Day
  • Misery for Carrion
  • Neophyte 1 - Art glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, up close showing textures and organic forms.
  • Out of the Flames
  • Reality Conflict
  • Rudimentary Distinction
  • Seahorse 3 - Underwater-themed pieces at the Corning Museum of Glass.
  • Serious and Sustaining
  • Sumac Leaves
  • Synthesis II
  • The Coming of Wisdom
  • The Gift Bearer
  • Then Returned Fatigued
  • Tisophene Requited
  • Transient Elements
  • Unfettered by Expectation
  • Uniformity of a Dreamscape
  • Unnatural Selection
  • Wistful Might Have Been







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